1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of pay stations and more particularly to credit card tracking at pay stations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Pay stations are used for parking and other services. Many of these stations are automatic and can accept credit and debit cards. This type of pay station has access to a database from the main office. A copy of the database may be kept locally with the pay station, or the database may be accessed remotely by having communication with the main office, whether constant, on-demand, periodically, or only occasionally. This database may contain a list of known bad credit cards (i.e., a black list) to minimize failed or unpaid transactions. The database may also be used to record transactions using card numbers for billing to the credit card company. However, a fee is paid to the credit card company for each transaction. It would be advantageous if a municipality or fleet owner could issue cards or other identification (e.g., RF ID tags) or use existing cards and register them with the pay station operator, so that transactions using such registered cards would be handled differently and advantageously by not accruing credit card transaction fees with every use.